Michigan Is Safe at Low Tied, 13-13 : Big Ten: Wolverines take second draw in a row when Moeller and Ohio State’s Cooper take no chances.

Michigan Coach Gary Moeller blamed the elements and Ohio State’s John Cooper blamed the percentages.

Sixth-ranked Michigan and No. 17 Ohio State tied, 13-13, Saturday, with both teams playing it close to the vest near the end and avoiding a loss rather than playing for the victory.

“You can’t stand up on that field,” Moeller said. “It’s a joke! It’s a joke! You can’t stand up on that field. It was like an ice rink.”

Citing fan noise, he added, “You can’t hear, and we got no help from the officials. The whole world was against us out there. It’s never been like this here.”

Ohio State chose to kick a tying extra point with 4:24 to play, then elected to punt rather than go for a first down on fourth and four at the Michigan 49 with 1:12 left.

“You want to gamble, guys, but you want to gamble with my chips,” Cooper said. “You love that kind of stuff. ‘Gamble, Coach, gamble!’ Then you lose, and all I hear is how many times we lost. We gave ourself a chance to win the football game.”

The Wolverines had locked up the Big Ten title--with a 22-22 tie last week against Illinois--and will play Washington in the Rose Bowl. Ohio State has accepted a bid to the Citrus Bowl.

“Last week we created the tie. This week they created the tie,” Moeller said.

Ohio State’s Walter Taylor intercepted a last-ditch Michigan pass at the Buckeye 16 and returned it 51 yards to end the game.

Kirk Herbstreit’s five-yard pass to Greg Beatty and Tim Williams’ extra-point kick had tied it with 4:24 to play.

Michigan, 8-0-3 overall and 6-0-2 in the Big Ten, took over at its nine-yard line with 1:03 to play after Ohio State (8-2-1, 5-2-1) punted, and the Wolverines allowed the clock to continue on two running plays.

“On our nine-yard line, we were playing not to lose. The slippery conditions made me run the ball,” Moeller said.

The Wolverines, who had won the last four meetings in this series, ran on their first four plays of the series before backup quarterback Todd Collins threw two desperation passes, one falling incomplete and Taylor intercepting the other and returning it 51 yards before being gang-tackled in front of the Ohio State bench at the Michigan 33.

Herbstreit attempted 47 passes and completed 28, both the second-highest one-game totals at Ohio State. He passed for 271 yards and had no interceptions.

Michigan led, 13-3, early in the fourth quarter, scoring on a three-yard run by starting quarterback Elvis Grbac in the second quarter and a one-yard run by Collins late in the third quarter. Peter Elezovic missed the first point-after kick. He converted the second as a steady rain started, with 1:33 to play in the third quarter.

Williams’ 38-yard field-goal attempt was blocked by Jean-Agnus Charles on Ohio State’s first possession, and he missed a 56-yard attempt to end the half. Williams, who kicked a 39-yarder in the first half, pulled the Buckeyes to 13-6 on a 30-yard field goal with 12:16 to play.

After Michigan had to punt, Herbstreit completed a fourth-and-goal pass from the five to Beatty with 4:24 to play. Williams’ kick tied the score.

“Did I ever think of going for two? The answer is no,” Cooper said. “There was a little over four minutes left to go in the game, and I thought, ‘we tie the ballgame up, we’d kick off, hold them--which we did--get the ball back and have a chance to go down and kick the winning field goal.’ As it turned out, we didn’t make that play.”

Grbac was held out of the second half after injuring his ribs on his touchdown keeper. Collins completed five of 13 passes for 52 yards with one interception.

Michigan had not had three ties in a season since going 3-0-3 in 1910.